Bank Savings Rates/Money Market Rates April 17, 2013: Top Rates at or Just Above 1.00%

The best savings rates and money market rates for April 17, 2013 remain around 1.00 percent as average rates continue to decline. Rates have been low for years now, due to the Federal Reserve Open Market Committee (FOMC). The FOMC's policy for over five years now has been to keep the federal funds rate just above zero percent.

The highest savings account rates in our deposit database right now are from CIT Bank at 1.00 percent. The highest money market account rates in our database are slightly higher at 1.01 percent APY. The bank offering the best money market rate in our database is Ever Bank. The bank is actually offering a 6 month promo money market rate of 1.25 percent, with an ongoing rate of 0.76%. This gives the account an overall first year APY of 1.01 percent.

The national average savings rate/money market rate for April 17, is considerably lower than the best rates on our list. The current national average rate on account balances of $10,000 or more is at 0.49 percent, less than half the best rates in our database. The FDIC's national average savings rate is even lower at 0.07 percent. The FDIC national average money market rate is also much lower at 0.10 percent.

The FOMC plans on keeping their key interest rate benchmark near zero percent for at last least a couple of more years. In fact, the Fed has stated the rate will remain that low until the unemployment rate falls below 6.5 percent. The March unemployment rate was reported at 7.7 percent. A 1.2 percent difference in the unemployment rate may not sound like much but the Fed believes it will take until the end of 2015 for the rate to fall below 6.5 percent. The future direction of deposit rates at this point looks to be more of the same low rates until the beginning of 2016.